Today's grippers located at the end of a manipulator arm have gripper fingers attached which face one another and close toward each other under control of the gripper drive to grasp an object located there between. These kind of tools or gripper fingers, when used to pick up long thin objects especially when they are standing on end, require the object to be precisely located so that it is centered between the fingers and is not tilted. If the object is tilted or off center the subsequent operation, such as inserting the component into a hole, cannot be performed.
The accuracy with which a manipulator arm can be positioned is to some extent dependent on the weight carried at the end of the arm. Therefore, any tool attached at the end of the arm should be as light as possible.
The tool should also be easily attachable to the gripper fingers and have a means for easily and quickly locking in place so that the cycle time of the operation being performed is not adversely effected.
In view of today's variety of applications for high speed manipulators, it is not only necessary to have a tool which is light in weight, which is easily attachable and detachable and locks into position, but most importantly to have a tool which is capable of centering an object to be picked up and maintaining its axial orientation during the time it is held.